Drones in Firefighting: A User-Centered Design Perspective
Omri Alon, Sharon Rabinovich, Chana Fyodorov, Jessica R. Cauchard
Abstract
This work presents a user-centered perspective on the integration of semi-autonomous drones in firefighting. We first present the outcomes of an interview with the leading officers in Israel, which revealed opportunities and barriers in drone integration, as well as current usage and future needs. We envision a future where firefighters and drones can directly communicate with each other and propose the use of gestures in collocated environments. We then present the results of an elicitation study with operational firefighters (N=9), which resulted in a set of tasks for drones and matching user-defined gestures that can be performed in highly constrained environments. This research opens the space for future collocated human-drone interaction in emergency response and other complex professional settings.